He said transport planning required coordination among many agencies and ministries, besides the involvement of the transport ministry.

Wee’s comments came in response to the views of transport consultant Rosli Azad Khan in an FMT report today.

Rosli had said that Malaysia’s economic development was hindered as many ministries and agencies were involved in transport planning.

However, Wee said most things in the country required the cooperation and involvement of many parties.

“This is a fact. We have four types of roads where federal roads are maintained by the public works department (JKR), state roads by the state government, city roads maintained by the local authority and village roads under the district office,” he said, Bernama reported.

Explaining the need for coordination, Wee cited the example of road construction. He said roads were built by JKR, but enforcement of road laws was under the ministry’s road transport department and the police, while road construction policy may be part of plans by the housing and local government ministry.

Wee said he welcomed the opinion of experts as they have their own viewpoints in various matters or fields.

In FMT’s article today, Rosli was quoted as saying that public transport services and transport system planning had become fragmented because three ministries – transport, finance, and works – all had various roles in deciding on transport infrastructure, facilities, services and policies.